THANK YOUS (IF I MISS ANYONE, I APOLOGIZE LOTS...I TRIED TO MAKE SURE I GOT EVERYONE, SO I JUST LOOKED UP ALL THE REVIEWS FOR CHAPTER THREE):
Lady Sonora the Black-Rose: In a way, he gets it, but in some of the most important ways, he doesn't, as is the flaw with many great leaders. Of course, that's why he needs Raven. reminds him of everything he might not see himself.
Princess Viv: Thank you. I did my best with their argument, and while it's not dead-on, I think it came out pretty well too and it's nice to know someone else thinks so! Thank you!
Tecna: Thank you, dear! Updated.
Gilraen Luinwe: so I came out with three different versions of this chapter. My god. And not one of them was really quite the same so I picked the one I thought was best. One option was to have raven get in another argument with one of the titans and storm out for peace and quiet somewhere else but I thought raven going out anywhere was a little out of character, angry or not. (she usually settles for holing up in her room, like me, haha.) there was another, but it super sucked. Anyways, glad you liked that last chapter and hope you like what happens here, even though it's mostly set-up...rrrr...hehe, sometimes tedious, but necessary.
RedRover3173: thank you for the review! Glad you're still liking it.
unwellBastard: eh, I don't think Slade is the kind of character that would do that, and in any case I will not be writing him that way, so I guess I should apologize in case anyone thinks making him more civilized is not in character, but from what I've read of him and what I've actually seen, he's a bad guy with finesse and a shady background and more human qualities than anyone likes to admit to having. He's just buried them a whole lot deeper. Anyway, in short, rape is not something we need to write into this story and I won't be. There's too much of it in the real world as it is. Thank you for your comment/review and hope you enjoy this installment.
Cherry Jade: CHERRY, THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH. You are so kind in your encouragement and I hate it when they fight too but sometimes, you know them, it's gonna happen...those two birds. (shakes head) hope you like this chapter!
Final Fight: good is a good start, yes? I hope to one day be great, even if not in the proceedings of this story, but that would be nice too. Thank you for reviewing. I really appreciate it.
chiclet2021: yeah, the thing about 'fixation' is that you've often got no choice. I pictured Slade being chained to this sort of conflict, considering his personality type. Thank you for the review!
shadowcat2132: ah the yelling, yes. Not so much of it in here, not that kind anyway, but hope you like this one too. Thank you for commenting!
The Sacred Heart 2: they are too stubborn not to fight, methinks. As for Slade, well, I guess we'll see, yes? Thank you for staying with the story! And, in reference to this chapter, although they are still fuming, even angry people still care about each other. That's the idea to shine through here, if indirectly.
Allie: sleep deprivation! Argh! I'm sorry. 4 year old? I was a bad kid haha...well, not really but didn't let my mom rest enough I think. Still not. Oy. Anyway, yes lots of R & R meanings but I adore robinxraven with quite the impressive bias and preference. Haha.
jesters pet oriole: Thank YOU for your review:D here be the next chapter.
Dark Shadows: Hope I got this out soon enough. I tried. (falls over, is late to work) Enjoy, hopefully and as always, thank you for reviewing. It means a lot to me.
realfanficts: Your review was very encouraging. Thank you very much! And here is the next chapter.
For Nothing, For Everything...For the Birds
Chapter Three: what was that saying?
Raven puzzled over several books, each one levitating thoughtfully to one side of her or the other, pages rustling in an undecided fashion. She was positive that there was a flaw in the plot that spanned the several large volumes, some failure to maintain the story's continuity. Somewhat preoccupied, she had been severely startled when the blaring alarm went off. Rolling her eyes, she then closed them as her hood materialized and she fazed through the building, up, up, and up...and finally out.
Her flight had gotten somehow better after the Trigon issues settled, as had her other powers and her control; she nearly soared after the hurrying titans who had left in such haste, they hadn't stopped to send one of them to tell her.
Not that they needed to.
A deaf person could probably hear our alarm, she thought blandly.
So she wasn't offended that they hadn't, but she was a little more distinctly aware of a certain masked leader ignoring her as they battled a particularly juiced up Plasmus. Starfire hurled charged bolts of green at him, the occasional flare of her eyes sending pieces of him scrambling; Raven noted approvingly that the Tameranian had gotten much better with her aim and control. Beast Boy did his best to deter the lumbering monster of mush from getting near anything that might up its power supply, not really able to do much else and Robin did the same; their physical attacks just didn't cut it when Plasmus was like this. Cyborg shot at it with his lasers when Star wasn't firing at it and they seemed to be wearing him down.
About fifteen minutes later, it was evident that they were, in fact, not wearing him down and Raven scowled, tossing lampposts at him and other such large and heavy objects of impressive density.
Thirty more minutes of fighting and Raven had had quite enough.
"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" her voice escalated with her last, trademark word as her soul self unleashed an imploding effect on the hapless Plasmus who lay sleeping a shaky sleep of the near-dead two seconds later.
"Dude, you should've just done that in the first place," Beast Boy half joked and shrugged sheepishly when she glared. "Eh, heh...of course, where's the fun in that?" he saved himself, just barely and stepped strategically behind a befuddled Starfire.
"Some of us need more practice than others," she said tonelessly.
"Hey!" Beast Boy's voice was nothing short of indignant. Cyborg scratched his head, an amused expression on his face as Starfire floated beside Robin, watching carefully. Robin made no move to say anything but strode over to the R-Cycle.
"Yo, Robin, what's with the serious face? Raven just sent Plasmus back into a coma," Cyborg prodded humorously.
"Let him be," Raven covered Robin's intent to prolong the silence smoothly and flew past the leader and the rest of the titans, holding her own stolid quiet.
She didn't get fifty feet before a throng of Slade bots appeared from seemingly nowhere, surrounding the empath...not that that made any difference to her. Irritated, Raven flew up and out of their midst, encasing them all in a black dome and heaving them harshly to the side of a building. At first sight of anything Slade related Robin had come veering up and the titans had followed him, Starfire flying faster to assist Raven, even though as it turned out, the dark girl needed no such thing.
The titans backed up against each other, Robin having put his R-cycle to the side, forming a circle as they each looked out in different directions, trying to sense anything.
Silence.
"How long has it been, titans?" a voice traveled down from the rooftop of the nearest skyscraper.
"Slade," Robin's voice was colder than winter. "I don't know what you've come for but you're not getting it. Titans, GO!"
"Nice to see I was missed," the villain commented airily and flipped neatly out of the way of a shot from Cyborg's cannon, simultaneously flinging one of his many gadgets at the technologically inclined teen. Cyborg was unhappily reminded of Gizmo as the gadget seemed to attach itself to his system, inciting short-circuit.
While he tried to rid himself of it, Beast Boy launched himself at the practiced foe, only to be netted by some strange combination of what seemed to be normal rope and then turned into a synthetic, black sinew that glowed like fire when he struggled. He settled for growling venomously. Robin meanwhile, seethed. Slade had, as most renowned villains might, apparently studied Robin's own technique in bringing down the titans from his days as Red X and altered them to his own liking. Once again Robin's obsession, his blindness had brought on an unfair advantage and the boy wonder charged at the sneering mask of Slade, all his anger not directed at the man alone, but at himself.
Starfire aided him as best she could without hitting Robin himself, but being cautious she could only fire around Slade to hopefully make him dance to a pattern that would make it easier to subdue him. As it was, to her chagrin, Slade seemed hardly phased by her attacks, if at all. His agility seemed better, if possible, and as always his mind was sharper than sharp...he seemed one step ahead of them every time.
Robin delivered a fierce kick into the Slade's chest and then a hard hit to the villain's side with his staff, scowling darkly all the time. Nothing seemed to get past his opponent, but Raven was still active and when she encased Slade in black light Robin forged onward, pummeling him without reserve.
Raven dropped Slade without a thought, glaring her own darkness at the man who had caused so much grief for the titans, glaring because it hid her concealed fear of him. Her last encounter with that man had been all but pleasant, and the one before that, and the one before that...okay that was old, but the pattern resounded something awful.
To her vexation, she only heard his vacant laugh.
"A nice welcome as always, titans. But you wound me...I see no warming gift," Slade said, mockery evident as he pulled himself up off the ground with an unnatural grace, like a snake with slit eyes and primitive instinct.
"It's not like you bought a new house or something," Raven muttered irately. Slade chuckled and, thinking him distracted, Starfire lunged at him, caught off guard when Slade reached out a hand and sent her flying backward into a building.
Apparently he hadn't been quite distracted enough.
"Star!" Robin yelled and rushed to her. Raven cringed inwardly and then scolded herself; Starfire was just hurt and instead of concern, jealousy was flapping its oddly colored cape at her like a banner.
Sometimes she disgusted herself.
A moment of combined self-pity and self-loathing was all Slade needed to catch her unawares.
He had watched as the empath's eyes clouded with hurt at Robin's impulse and then anger at herself, of all things. He had watched as she observed Robin cradle a limp Starfire who—to Raven's relief—stirred slightly with a groan belying the alien girl's pain. To his amusement, Raven lifted her hands and in a moment Starfire's wounds seemed to emanate a white light before disappearing. Apparently in his absence the empath had learned to heal at a distance...or had she always been able? He didn't really care, on second thought.
The Tameranian's gaze met Raven's and offered a smile that turned sour and frightened with an abruptness the dark girl would have questioned if Robin hadn't shouted a warning and directly following his yell, a hard hand had not clamped itself just barely on her shoulder.
She would not flinch. She would not show him he scared her. She would not yield...
"Dear Raven, it has been far too long," he said and Raven forced down the shudder that threatened to rip through her as his other hand rested itself, equally as gently, on her other shoulder. His eyes burned into her where she could not see, but sensed and she resisted the urge to grip her cloak closer to her. Be calm, she told herself adamantly, doggedly, desperately, seeming to have forgotten the ability to move beyond her mind at all.
Nothing to fear but fear itself, she reminded her brain stubbornly.
"Don't touch her!" Robin ordered coldly, leaving Starfire to situate herself as she was healed now but not quite stable. Slade smiled, his visible eye tearing into Robin with a cruelty that only the darkest of satisfactions could rouse.
"Of the two of us, Robin, you are not the one who gives orders," Slade answered unworriedly, alluding to the failed, but intriguing apprenticeship and he noted with pleasure how Robin's spine went rigid at the mere mention of it. "Though I admit you did follow them admirably for a time, I've been thinking of putting someone else through a test trial." His cold hands gripped Raven without reservation now and she thought her shoulders might break under the pressure. She winced and cursed herself for doing so; she knew he had seen her reaction; she could feel his satisfaction without even seeing his face. Looking up, pointedly not at Slade, she witnessed anger and hate and pain and longing and fear flash through Robin's features, even with the mask and.
She would have been touched if she wasn't still pissed at him, which regardless of her current predicament, she most definitely was. Remembering this, she used her irritation to fuel her anger and attempted to break free of Slade's grip with renewed vigor.
"Let her go, Slade! You can't use her to get at us, at me," he lied as his chest tightened at the sight of Raven in the madman's possession once more. He had said he would protect her. He had said he wouldn't let Slade near her. Seeing Raven's face warp in a moment of pain when Slade grasped her shoulders even more tightly when she tried to get away, his heart fell.
He had told her he wouldn't let that man hurt her.
What was that saying? Don't go making promises you can't keep? Robin repressed a bitter laugh and was brought back to attention by the voice he hated most.
"I don't like to repeat the mistakes of my inferiors," Slade replied with an insidious quiet and Robin froze. What did he mean?
"What?" it was not a whisper, not a yell...just an ominous question the leader almost feared to ask.
"You don't seem to realize, dear Robin," Slade accentuated Robin's name with his signature false sweetness, "That this isn't about you anymore," Slade paused, "And as easy as it would be if it were about you, our past relationship has shown me that you are not quite dark enough for me, tragic past aside." His voice was completely dismissive of what he referred to Robin's blood chilled as unbidden images of his mother and father falling...always falling...rushed into his mind.
He couldn't do anything for them... he couldn't stop it from happening...his eyes went to Raven, still held by loathsome metal encased hands...he couldn't do anything for her...
His mind reeled with Slade's well fired barb.
Raven twisted in pure fury. How dare he? She could feel and see Robin's mind, and because of the disturbing stab at his psyche she could also see some of his heart and as his pain became hers, she turned to glare darkly up at Slade—her subjugator and his attacker.
"Release me if you want to see tomorrow," she all but growled.
To her annoyance, he lowered his masked face to a stoic hers and he ignored her command and continued from his previous statement, "But you, Raven. You have great potential...What was that saying? Birds of a feather flock together?"
"There's a difference between a birds and a monster," she said icily.
"But not much difference between a monster and a demon," he returned smoothly. It was Raven's turn to feel her mental walls start to crack. Her heritage was still something she tried to hide from, even after the vanquishing of her father. His absence didn't mean she wasn't still part devil, part evil, and she tried to hide it away between pages of books but here it was, thrust at her like a hot poker. She shied away, her resistance to him ceasing as she became stock still at his words.
"She is nothing like you!" Robin yelled, snapping out of his unwanted break in focus, and ran at them, flipping over Slade's side to deliver a kick that sent the man skidding backward—still on his feet. It had the desired effect though. Raven was, for the time, free. "Raven get back here," he pointed behind him. The dark girl floated wordlessly behind him, trying her best to not let the villain's words eat away at her as she knew he intended for them to. It helped when she was jolted into helping as Starfire—though recently healed, still wanting to assist—rushed to his aid. They seemed to be beating him down and, feeling the upper hand, Robin ordered Star and Raven to try and help Beast Boy and Cyborg while he continued to duel with his worst enemy yet
Aside, of course, from himself.
"She is beyond your protection, ex-apprentice," Slade taunted as he evaded Robin's next attacks with an insufferable smugness. His movements were fluid and painstakingly honed, almost graceful. "You don't seem to be getting on well in any case." That last one infuriated Robin just that much more. His personal hatred for Slade was pinpointed this time to a keen dislike of the Hellish man's severely tuned observational skills. He almost got a punch in that time.
"What exactly do you want Slade? The end has come and gone, so what could you possibly want now?" Robin demanded, finally landing a kick squarely on Slade's chest. To the boy wonder's disappointment, his enemy merely flipped backward with the force of the kick, not making a single sound as he recoiled from the attack, continuing their conversation as if they were discussing something civilized over a cup of tea.
"I want what you want," he spoke ever in riddles and Robin was about to prod him about that particular morsel of vague information when Slade clarified it for him by adding coolly, "Besides what do you think you could ever offer her?"
"You bastard," Robin felt realization dawn and his glare became colder, more distant, and less human. This stranger in Robin reminded Slade of the potential he had once seen in him, but instead of dread, Slade only felt enthused by the new face the caped hero wore. Robin squared his stance with an unreadable stare, very different from his angry one or his concerned or desperate one. This was a mask of a whole other sort. His breath was a deadly whisper. "Touch her and I swear I'll kill you." And with another shout, he went at Slade again who this time had only a second to block. His smile was grudging; the boy wonder had gotten considerably stronger and anger was the very best fuel.
He would know.
They exchanged punches and kicks, each as skilled as the other. If one swiped the other ducked and when one jumped the other lunged...they were a blur of movement, almost indistinguishable from each other.
Not ten feet away, Beast Boy rubbed his head ruefully.
"Dude, concrete is not a good pillow," he remarked as Cyborg yelped while Raven detached the debilitating device on him. All free, the titans set to helping Robin but were forced back by what looked like an army of Slade bots.
"Okay when did they get here?" Cyborg asked no one in particular as he fired a major beam cannon their general direction.
"Does it matter?" Raven deadpanned and flew out over them, throwing some into each other and knocking others into sides of buildings until they fell apart, bits and pieces clanking about noisily. Beast Boy shrugged as if to say no, it didn't really matter and sprang into the fray as a T-Rex.
"Well I've enjoyed this as much as you have Robin, but I've a simply tearing engagement to attend to," Slade laughed with his words and before Robin could stop him, Slade flipped into the midst of the Slade bots. Thinking he had used them as a cover to leave completely, Robin was taken aback when the masked man shot up out of the countless bots to snatch Raven from flight, arm closing firmly around her waist.
"Let go of me!" Raven seethed and twisted in vain.
Slade only held her tighter.
There was that struggle he liked.
"Rest your wings Raven," Slade whispered into her ear in such a way that made her freeze. Robin noticed this and flinched as if Slade had hit him with a car, and almost wished he had.
"Titans, get him!" Robin didn't even give the 'go' signal before using his staff to launch himself up at Slade and Raven, shooting a grappling hook up to clutch the nearest rim of a building as he swung toward them.
"What's yours is mine. Until next time, titans," Slade menaced them with many strange discs that flew and not only blinded them in the next explosion but one hit Robin dead on. Raven saw him start to fall and panicked, struggled and then remembering her position closed her eyes and concentrated hard on lowering him safely to the ground. "I don't think so, my little bird," Slade's voice was a distant murmur to her as she ignored him and kept focusing stubbornly on Robin...
Something sharp stabbed her arm. She winced, opening her eyes to find her captor idly twirling a small injection gun. Her heart skipped a beat fearfully. What had he just put into her?
Poison? A disease? What?
Her head started to get muddy and her vision blurred, making her lose complete control of saving Robin who, luckily was swept up by a barely recovering Starfire.
A drug then, she realized and the last thing she was aware of was a strange sense of vertigo, like moving through liquid air—if that made any sense—and it was very cold. That was all she knew before darkness consumed her entirely.
What think you, readers? Again, thank you for keeping with the story.